Keeping feta fresh

[rotuts]

I decided to do a little more exploring in Watertown MA, a town that has a lot of Armenian bakeries and food stores.

I went here:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/armenian-market-and-bakery-watertown#query:Middle%20Eastern%20Grocery%20Stores

very interesting place. i got about a lbs of Bulgarian Feta, the type that swims in its own salt bath until they cut your order. they had at least 6 kinds, about what id expect in the other haunts I frequent.

I think the owner told me to keep the feta in plain water, to keep it fresh. didnt pay enough attention.

how do you keep your 'artisan' feta? and for years its been a revelation that bulgarian feta was sooooo creamy who knew?

and Ill be back here when they kitchen is hopping!

[heidih]

I treat it like tofu - keep it in a sealed container with water and change water every couple days.

[Darienne]

I must shamefully admit, I break it into smaller pieces or amounts...and freeze it. And so far so good. Just made Spanakopita for the weekend and it's delicieux. (I know, I've been instructed on how to make an e acute, but I can't seem to recall how. )

[rotuts]

Soooooooooo .... have you tried bulgarian ? if its in the salty-bulk swimming, give it a try.

Bulgaria?

[munchymom]

I love Bulgarian feta! Don't have the good luck to be near stores that sell it in bulk - I usually get it in 500g cans. The block of cheese is stored in brine in the can, and I just take what I need and put the rest back in the can with the brine - no adding or changing water. It keeps for weeks that way, at least.

[Jaymes]

Have always bought Greek feta or, when I couldn't find that, Israeli. But my local Middle Eastern restaurant/market didn't sell either.

I have eaten many dishes there that had feta, so I asked the owner what feta he was using.

It's Bulgarian. And he sells it.

The brand he prefers (and now so do I) and sells is Zergut:

http://www.littlerosies.com/2012/02/smooth-tangy-bulgarian-feta-cheese/

It comes in that little plastic container, submerged in liquid. We try to cut off what we use in a manner that the cheese stays submerged. It lasts for quite a while. And, frankly, we eat it quickly enough that it doesn't really have time to go bad.

Favorite recipes with feta are watermelon salad with mint, olives and feta.

And Brussels sprouts.

Try it. Just boil the sprouts however you like. Remove from heat and drain. Then toss with generous amount of crumbled, good-quality feta.

Having good, tangy feta is the key to this dish. If you try to do it on the cheap, with bland US imitations of feta, you'll be mightily disappointed. But if you make it with excellent-quality tangy feta, it's entirely conceivable that you'll never want to eat Brussels sprouts prepared any other way ever again.

That's certainly what happened to us.

[nickrey]

Keep it in a 10-12% salt brine. Use pure salt only (no anti-caking agents, uniodised). The water needs to be unchlorinated (you can boil normal water to achieve this and this is a good time to add the salt). To stop the cheese from going soft, add up to .25% calcium chloride. Make sure the cheese sits below the water level.

[Darienne]

How long will it keep in brine or fresh water changes? We had been eating Feta cheese constantly and then one day neither of us wanted it again. So that's when I froze it. I hate to tell anyone how long it sat frozen in the freezer but it worked fine in the Spanokopita and Moussaka. I fear I simply am not a taste expert for much of anything (except chocolate).

[nickrey]

If you put it in fresh water you are exposing it to spoiling bacteria. This is something that the salt in the brine will keep at bay. Water will also make the feta soft because of calcium exchange which is why the Greeks sometimes use milk to soak it in if they want to remove some of the salt and why I recommended adding calcium chloride to the brine.. The recommendations I gave are those found in cheese making texts. When I make feta, I use my vacuum packer with the brine to make it absolutely air tight and this seems to last a long time. I'd say this is similar in nature to the vacuum packed feta that you can buy from supermarkets.

Freezing changes its texture but so does cooking it in Spanokopita or Moussaka so that is not really an issue for how you have used it.

Feta is sometimes aged in brine and some Greek manufacturers age it in brine in wooden barrels, which gives a more complex flavour.

Conservatively, I'd say keep it up to three months from time of production (I keep it for longer); however, as you don't know when it was produced, I'd use it within a month and then buy some more.

Edited June 23, 2013 by nickrey (log)

[heidih]

Oops - I did not realize about the fresh water. Thank you for the info. Perhaps because I generally kept just a few days I did not experience problems.

[rotuts]

10-12% salt brine

do you have a rough estimate using tsp./quart?

much appreciated

[blue_dolphin]

I buy the Trader Joe's Greek Feta that comes in a tub of brine. I'd never thought of changing the brine. Usually use it up in a couple of weeks, maybe up to a month at the longest. I'm careful to use a clean utensil to break off what I need and never return cheese to the brine, any leftovers get bagged up separately.

[Jaymes]

I buy the Trader Joe's Greek Feta that comes in a tub of brine. I'd never thought of changing the brine. Usually use it up in a couple of weeks, maybe up to a month at the longest. I'm careful to use a clean utensil to break off what I need and never return cheese to the brine, any leftovers get bagged up separately.

That's what we do, too, with the Bulgarian Zergut feta. Comes in a little tub of brine. We cut off what we need, and put the remainder back in the brine, being sure it's submerged. Then into the fridge. Use it up within a month.

[furzzy]

I must shamefully admit, I break it into smaller pieces or amounts...and freeze it. And so far so good. Just made Spanakopita for the weekend and it's delicieux. (I know, I've been instructed on how to make an e acute, but I can't seem to recall how. )

Alt0233

[furzzy]

nickrey I use brine to keep feta, but fresh water for mozzarella. Should I be using brine for mozzarella for the same bacteria reason?

[nickrey]

Mozzarella is a cooked cheese that is heated to 80 degrees celsius before the curd is stretched. Feta only goes to around 32C to set off the culturing. It is then set with rennet and the curd is then cut, drained, and turned to give its texture. Feta is then brined and is designed to be kept in brine for extended periods. It will go soft if left in water because the calcium leaches out. Mozarella is a different class of cheese that will not fall apart if kept in water. Typically it is cryovaced or kept in simple cold water and is classified as a fresh cheese rather than a matured product. I'd be keeping mozzarella in fresh water and using it within a week to 10 days or by the manufacturers specified use by date.

[nickrey]

10-12% salt brine

do you have a rough estimate using tsp./quart?

much appreciated

I use kitchen scales, which also gets around the issue of measuring a product such as salt that can have different grain sizes.

[rotuts]

Soooooooooooo

I do have a scale I use for baking

Sooooooooooo for the salt, about a QT how many grams?

thanks

[blue_dolphin]

10-12% = 10-12 grams in 100 milliliters of water or 100-120 grams per liter

[Darienne]

Thanks furzzy, but I cannot get it to work.

[nickrey]

Soooooooooooo

I do have a scale I use for baking

Sooooooooooo for the salt, about a QT how many grams?

thanks

Measure one kilogram of water, which is one liter. Then add 100-120g salt and the calcium chloride, if using (2.5g for this quantity of water). Bring it to the boil to bring salts into solution and to remove chlorine if there was any in the water. Let it cool then put feta into it.

[rotuts]

thanks will do that.

[catdaddy]

The brining is essential to good feta. But also know that some bacteria can still thrive in the brine. Keeping your fingers out of the brine, that is using clean utensils to fish out the cheese will go a long way towards keeping things fresh.

[furzzy]

Mozzarella is a cooked cheese that is heated to 80 degrees celsius before the curd is stretched. Feta only goes to around 32C to set off the culturing. It is then set with rennet and the curd is then cut, drained, and turned to give its texture. Feta is then brined and is designed to be kept in brine for extended periods. It will go soft if left in water because the calcium leaches out. Mozarella is a different class of cheese that will not fall apart if kept in water. Typically it is cryovaced or kept in simple cold water and is classified as a fresh cheese rather than a matured product. I'd be keeping mozzarella in fresh water and using it within a week to 10 days or by the manufacturers specified use by date.

Thank you, nickrey. What an excellent & complete explanation. Now I actually understand the 'why' as well as know the 'what.' I like that.

ETA one more question: If I use part of the mozzarella, then vacuum pack it with a little fresh/filtered water, will it keep longer, or is it 'on the clock' from the time it's first opened? My vacuum sealer is a FoodSaver.

Edited June 26, 2013 by furzzy (log)

[furzzy]

Thanks furzzy, but I cannot get it to work.

Sorry - wish it had helped.